[tidalwarrior]

I'm having the following problem w/ my HP 945 camera. When I try to take pictures, the LCD screen is black and the microviewfinder is black as well. After I take a picture, the image comes up black. And when I load the image to the computer it is still black. The camera turns on fine and I can access the menu w/ no problem. I've reset the camera, ran diagnostics, changed memory card, and the batteries and I'm still having the problem. Has anyone ever ran into this problem do you know of any secret area that I can access on the camera? Help would be greatly appreciated.

Ricky

[PopPicker]

Hi there, unfortunately it sounds like a CDD failure. Very pricey to repair if repairable at all.

Sorry

PP

[kiwiguy]

I agree with PopPicker

Both the LCD and Microviewer get their signal from the main camera image element (the CCD) and that signal is what produces the digital photo as well. No signal = black image = no photo.

[slipe]

No way to know exactly what is bad but it likely isn’t worth repairing. Besides the sensor the processor could be bad or there might just be a failed connection. You could gamble that it is just a connection or something simple and a good repair facility could repair it at a price that would be acceptable. But if the sensor or processor needs replacing you would do better to just buy a current camera.

Perhaps you could find a shop that could give you a free or low cost estimate.

[tidalwarrior]

I've also posted this at CNET.com and someone replied w/ an interesting point. I'm not sure if the following would apply to my camera though. Sony manufactured a bunch of ccd sensors for different companies that would fail easily under certain conditions. The article is in the recent issue of Maximum pc under the watch dog section so I'll have to find that to give everyone more information. There is no excuse for the camera to fail like this especially w/ the care that is given to it. Very unlikely that I'll buy an HP camera in the future. If I get a new camera I'd like it to be a Canon.

Ricky

[slipe]

The problem I think you are referring to didn’t usually show as completely black output, although I guess it could.

You will notice that quite a few Canon and other quality brand cameras were included in the recall. http://www.imaging-resource.com/badccds.html I think only Sony was making 5Mp 1/1.8 CCDs in 03 when your camera was released, so it might well be in the recall. There are several cameras listed with the Sony 5Mp 1/1.8 sensor so you might want to contact HP.

I’ve read about the problem for some time now and I haven’t read of any completely black output associated with it. But the Imaging Resource article says there can be complete failure, so it is possible you would be covered if HP has joined the recall.

Canon has had their problems like everyone else. They have had lens error problems that have spanned several generations of their cameras. They also had several models that the LCD cracked easily. I would vote with my feet as you are planning to do, but HP isn’t particularly known for unreliability.

[tidalwarrior]

I'm surprised w/ the failure like this. I've been very impressed w/ their printers and computers. So hopefully this problem has been addressed but I'm not looking into an hp camera in the future. I've never been impressed with its low light capability and fast moving objects. I've also had issues where purple horizontal lines show up when there are bright lights in the picture.

Ricky